At the End of the World
by CranesFlyHighOvertheSky
Summary: By 2057, global warming has forced humanity to establish a community in which talented women and men are forced to "breed" and produce offspring with superior genes. These offspring are put into a special academy for training. Sakura Mikan is a student at this academy, and Hyuuga Natsume, the jerk, might be her "companion," with whom she needs to produce these talented offspring?


**Hello, everyone. It has been a while since I posted anything on FanFiction...mainly due to schoolwork, SATs, and all that jazz. I've been thinking of writing a Gakuen Alice fanfic for quite a while now, so I'm glad I got around to it (I actually have time to write...this is a miracle). Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this new fanfic. Because there's a word limit for the summary, here's the full summary: By 2057, global warming, destitution, unemployment, natural catastrophes, and other issues have caused humanity to establish a community in which talented women and men are forced to "breed" and produce offspring with superior genes for "the greater good of the world." The leaders in this community place these children into academies for physical and mental training. Sakura Mikan is a citizen in this community, and she's enrolled in this academy. Not to mention, the guy who gets on her nerves, Hyuuga Natsume, might be her "companion," with whom she may need to produce these talented offspring? Wait, what? The first chapter is a prologue, so it may be a little confusing because I'm not going to start at the beginning of the story (I want you guys to get acquainted to the setting first).** **My first shot at this fandom...let's see how this turns out.**

* * *

I knew the world was about to end when images of pink fluffy unicorns began to flash before my eyes incessantly; the unicorns batting their eyelashes and twirling around me in circles with their tiny hooves clanking on the concrete floor below like some crowd of unicorns who escaped from the National Asylum for Cuckoo Unicorns. A couple of the unicorns were mere babies; nevertheless, they had their DJ sunglasses on and thrusted their hips up in the air while the disco ball flashed above them, attached on a long stick that may or may not have been an unicorn's horn. Before I could fully comprehend what in the world was going on, one of the unicorns stepped forward eagerly and stuck out its tongue to lick my nose when the image suddenly dissipated, eliciting a sigh of relief from me. Who knows what would have happened if _all_ the unicorns began to lick my face? No, stop. No need to imagine such things.

"Mikan."

I quickly turned around and saw the boy again. The surroundings around me had changed, and all the unicorns, the party, the chaos, and the weird-horn-disco-ball-thing had disappeared. Instead of the unicorns, I had leaves, trees, songbirds, and rabbits. Instead of a party, I had the contents of a picnic basket sprawled across a blanket on the grass. Instead of the chaos, I had the wind, gently brushing the tip of my hair against the side of my neck. Instead of the weird-horn-disco-ball-thing, I had...this boy. He seemed a lot younger than her, perhaps by three or four years? His hair, golden and disheveled, resembled corn flakes. Despite his short stature and juvenile face, his presence somehow relieved her and put her at ease.

I spoke up first. "It's you again. Why do you keep appearing in front of me? Why? Do I know you?"

The boy smiled and began, "Why..."

* * *

"Mikan! Mikan! Get up! Didn't I tell you that we had a new student to-"

I rose out of bed and slammed straight into the tip of someone's nose with my forehead. Massaging my forehead with one hand, I rubbed my eyes with the other hand and slowly opened both my eyes. I flinched when I saw Hotaru, her eyes widened into an intimidating glare and her nose red from the collision, in front of me.

Imai Hotaru was a couple of years older than me. She had curly indigo hair that reached her shoulders, and one could immediately discern the fact that she was not a student at the academy by the way she carried herself; she was not arrogant or flamboyant per say, but she emitted a don't-approach-me-unless-you-have-something-important-to-say aura that usually kept most students and teachers alike at least three meters away from her.

While Hotaru was the current vice principal of the academy and the daughter of the founder of the academy, she was my counselor and confidante at the same time; I sought her help whenever I needed it, and she would always offer her help (though she refuses to acknowledge me when I scream her name from across the hallway). As for her anger, it's _usually_ never directed at me...unless I humiliate her in public, inflict unnecessary pain on her, or visit her room during the night, wailing about poor grades, bland cafeteria food, the dank weather, and...Natsume. Like now, for instance. She looked like she could disembowel me and feed my entrails to her students.

Tentatively sliding out of bed, I said, "Hotaru?"

Without turning her head around to face me, she responded, "The new student's waiting outside of your room. Show her around the academy. Classes start at nine. Don't be late again, Mikan."

* * *

"Your name?"

"Creation #56,342,378."

Smiling, I offered, "You can tell me your real name." The new student shyly averted her eyes from mine and stared at the ground below as if she had suddenly realized how beguiling the pattern on the floor was...except the floor was completely white with no designs whatsoever.

"Ms. Imai told me not to reveal my name to anyone."

Mikan internally sighed. Yes, you were given a number after you were born and that had priority over your "real name," which you got to choose when you turned ten years old. The government supposedly wanted everyone to address each other by their creation number so that we could "continue to endorse a community in which systematic laws take precedence over raw emotions and feelings" (whatever that means); however, no one followed those nonsensical rules...or at least Natsume and I didn't care. Hotaru also didn't care since her father was the one who initially enforced the laws (though she pretended to "care" in front of her father).

I decided to try one more time. "I'm sure Ms. Imai won't mind if you tell me. I'm her friend. Plus, you're already calling Ms. Imai by her real name."

The girl quickly looked up and directed her gaze at my face. She stared at me with her mouth agape and her eyes _literally_ emitting sparkles. There we go again. Imai Hotaru, the daughter of the founder of the only prestigious academy in our society, is the heroine of this new student, who is completely oblivious to Ms. Imai's notorious reputation in the academy.

While wrapping a strand of her hair around her pinkie, she opened her mouth to speak up, but she instantly clamped her lips together, shaking her head. "I can't. Even if you're Ms. Imai's friend, Ms. Imai will be angry if I tell you my name. Also, Ms. Imai's an exception. She's the founder's daughter. How can I address her with such impudence?"

Great. Another exemplary student who refuses to breach society's laws. Why is everyone in the academy so...submissive? So insipid? Wait, what? Why am I thinking like Natsume? That jerk has nothing to do with-

"Are you okay?" The girl waved her right hand in front of me; her face was scrunched with worry.

I blinked a couple of times before I smiled. "I'm fine. Let's start the tour before classes begin."

* * *

"As you probably already know, this academy was established by Imai Arata, Imai Hotaru's father. The purpose of the academy is to foster intelligent youth for the sake of enhancing the quality of lifestyle in our society. Because the academy's students and teachers address most of society's problems, we are well-respected by the citizens of our society. Since there is no educational institute in our community other than our academy, the academy especially assigns other jobs to students who are rejected from the curriculum. Also-"

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but can you tell me what your 'talent' is?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face the girl. "Mine?"

"Yes." The girl fluttered her eyelashes and began twisting one of her curls with her fingers again. She resembled a porcelain doll; her face was sheer white with not one blemish, and her hair was the color of ebony. She stood upright while holding a teddy bear in her arms, which for some bizarre reason added to her ethereal beauty.

I approached the girl and whispered, "This a secret, but I don't really know what mine is, yet."

* * *

We continued to stroll across immaculate hallways and used sliding glass doors to transition from one building to another until we arrived at the one place that did not have white walls, floors, and ceilings: the nursery room.

Each person reacted differently when they first beheld the nursery room (technically the second time since every person in our society was brought to the nursery room immediately following birth). Some would begin jumping up and down (one athlete who jumped a little too high once crashed into one of the elephants that were etched on the ceiling). Some would start wailing with the babies in the nursery while wiping their tears with their hands. Some would merely stare at the room in awe, impressed by the colorful animal designs on the ceiling and the walls. One new student who visited the room began a conversation with one of the drawings on the wall; eventually, two security guards had to drag him out of the room while he flailed and complained about how the drawings _wanted_ to talk to him some more. Yes, we have students with eccentric personalities. Case closed.

The floor in the nursery room was constructed using glass, but unlike the other rooms in the building, the glass panels were situated a couple of inches above the ground and filled with water underneath, which allowed little fishes to swim around below the glass panels. Part of the ceiling was also made of glass, which one could slide open electronically on sunny days, allowing the newborns to be exposed to some sunlight (this would have been a wonderful idea if it weren't for the fact that there were no sunny days in our community). Aside from the cradles and the babies, the room was also adorned with comfy sofas and chairs for visitors.

The new student gaped at the exquisite furniture around her while clutching her teddy bear with both hands. The babies were dozing quietly in their cradles, and silence reigned in the room until the new student skittered across the room...and began introducing one of the teddy bear drawings on the wall to her own teddy bear. Before the girl could get completely addicted to the...wall, I quickly intervened, "We have to see all the buildings before classes start. Let's go now."

Perking up, the girl questioned, "Why is the nursery room so aesthetically pleasing compared to the regular classrooms and the main building?

I turned around and hid my hands behind my back. The intense curiosity that was reflected in the girl's eyes seemed to penetrate into my own eyes as I stared at her, wondering how to answer her question. For some reason, my cheeks began to heat up a little, and the room seemed a little too hot for comfort. I finally sighed, "I don't really know. You can ask Ms. Imai later, okay?"

* * *

I collapsed on one of the chairs in the guest room on the eighth floor of the main building, completely exhausted from the tour. I glanced at the new student and asked, "Aren't you tired?"

Dusting off a strand of hair from her skirt, the student replied, "A little, but I'm fine."

After staring at the girl with my eyebrows slightly raised, I sighed and gazed at the view outside of the colossal glass windows. As usual, the world outside of the academy was bleak and stark. While some of the houses below were dilapidated and uninhabitable, most of the houses had decent architecture. Nevertheless, even after all those years, the contrast between the academy and the other buildings that encompassed it still shocked her.

Waving her hand in front of my face and cocking her head to the right, the new student asked, "Are we heading to classes now?"

I smiled. "There's just one more place I need to show you."

* * *

"So, this is the sleeping room." I pointed to a room with glass doors. Unlike the other rooms, you actually had to manually push open the door to enter the room beyond it. On top of the glass doors, one could see an eye-catching sign that announced, "SLEEPING ROOM."

"I'm not planning on missing classes to sleep-"

"Everyone has to visit the sleeping room once a day. You remember you had to see a doctor everyday before you got accepted into the academy, right? This replaces those appointments. Attendance is mandatory and will be taken."

" _Everyone_ has to visit the sleeping room once a day?"

I shrugged. "Well, there are exceptions."

"Exceptions?"

"Some students don't exactly comply with the rules. Especially those who possess a special talent rarely visit the sleeping room. Teachers complain to Ms. Imai and the other members of the academy board about these rebels, but even they're dependent on these students; there's really nothing that they can do."

The new student narrowed her eyes. "How many of these 'rebels' attend this academy now?"

"Well, I don't exactly know the number, but I know one jerk in my class who didn't visit the sleeping room for the past three months."

"Is he that talented? Enough to defy all the elders?"

"Oh, yes. He's the one who constructed the pipes, through which we import raw materials into our society. Like most of the other kids who are talented, he's a complete $%&**#! who skips classes and completely ignores-"

"Now, who might you be talking about?"

As I swerved around to face the person with the voice, I crashed into the boy standing directly behind me. Rubbing my forehead for the second time on that day, I looked up to see...Hyuuga Natsume, the self-proclaimed genius (and the aforementioned $%&**#!). "Natsume!?"

"You idiot. If you don't turn around slowly, you'll bump into the person behind you. Didn't your teachers teach you at least that much?" He glared at me while rubbing his chin.

"It's your fault for standing so close to me!"

"No, it's your fault for not noticing me approach you."

Standing up slowly, I exclaimed, "You never told me-ow!" I collapsed on the ground and tried to stand up again, but the pain only intensified. Did I break something when I collided with the jerk?

"Idiot. Your hair is stuck in my button shirt." Natsume began to pull my hair out of his button shirt using his teeth.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get your stupid hair out of my uniform."

"That's disgusting. Do it with your hands."

"I don't want to."

"Why-"

Natsume suddenly pulled me in close so that my nose touched the tip of his and whispered, "You know why. Narumi insisted that we should increase the level of intimacy between us so that we can-"

I punched Natsume in the mouth. Hard. "Enough!"

* * *

"I'm sorry about that. I apologize for Natsume's-"

"Attractiveness."

"I apologize for-"

"Natsume's charisma."

"for his-"

"Adorableness."

"his _obnoxiousness_." I glared at the back of Natsume's head. He simply refused to turn around and face me. That jerk.

We were heading to classes after _successfully_ disentangling myself from Natsume's button shirt. This day was a complete catastrophe. First, I see pink fluffy unicorns and an undeniably attractive corn flake hair-colored boy in my dreams. Then, Hotaru forces me to show the new student around the academy. Now, _this_. Great.

"Oh, it's completely fine. I'm not offended by him at all," the new student muttered, staring at nothing in particular and refusing to face me, too.

I forced a smile. "Is that so? I'm relieved." Yes, _extremely_ relieved, if I may add.

"Stop putting on that facade, Mikan. I know you're judging the new kid for being an exemplary student who refuses to breach society's laws. Don't deny it. You've begun to think like-"

Before I could clamp Natsume's mouth shut with my arms, the new student murmured, "Oh, I don't care about what she thinks of me. It doesn't change the fact that she knows more than I do; therefore, I will respect her and do what she requests of me." Glancing at Natsume fleetingly, the new student added, "Is it true that you skip classes and refuse to listen to what the teachers say?"

"Oh, don't worry. She skips with me." Natsume nodded in my direction. "She makes sure I don't get into _too_ much trouble."

"What!?"

"It's true."

"Yes, but you can't just disclose that in front of her!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're supposed to be exceptional students to whom she could look up to!"

"Oh, will you just-"

"Natsume! You didn't even wear your bracelet today! Everyone's required to wear it everyday! What's wrong with you?"

"I hate that stupid bracelet. It has rainbows and old men with goatees on it. I really don't get Narumi's sense of humor. Why is that guy even considered a prodigy?"

"Shut up and wear that bracelet, Natsume. Or else the teacher's are really going to drag you into the sleeping room today."

"Did you see his newest invention? Flying shoes with cupid wings. For god's sake, I'm going to kill that-"

"Do you two always get along like this?" With our mouth slightly agape, we both stopped and stared at the new student. It was the first time she had interrupted one of our disputes.

I tentatively replied, "Yes..."

After opening and closing her mouth once, she suggested, "You two should listen to what the teachers say and heed their advice. Who knows what might happen if you do otherwise?"

* * *

 **Wow. I finished this an hour ago, but I took an hour to write the summary for this fanfic (because of the word limit). It's almost midnight now. Ah, wonderful. I have 4% battery on my laptop computer now... Nevertheless, I enjoyed writing this (especially the last part), so I hope you guys all enjoyed reading it. If there's anything confusing or you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. Thanks, everyone! Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated as always!**


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